The relentless heat of Rome inspired us to hit the trail at 0630, but we also lucked out as early morning thunderstorms had dampened down the dust and temporarily lowered the temperature. The path out of Rome was well marked, but that still didn’t prevent us from a couple of scenic detours.
Porta San Sebastiano. I suspect it had a different name back in the pagan days!
The track showing on the app had changed, so instead of playing dodgem with cars on the via Appia antica, we spent some time on park trails. Eventually we regained the ancient road, but it was preferable to walk on the edge rather than all those big gnarly rocks. Eventually the traffic peters out – except for those hell bent on testing their suspension, and masochistic cyclists on road bikes.
The end of today’s section is the town of Castel Gandolfo, the castle being a summer retreat for various Popes through the ages, and home to the Vatican observatory. Guess they need to keep an eye on the folks up in heaven. The town is perched on the rim of an ancient Crater lake, meaning the last five km were a slog up hill to said rim. Tough way to finish day 1!
Water break in the shade of the ruins of one of the countless masoleums that line the via Appia
In 2009, we embarked on a one-year family sailing adventure aboard a Grand Soleil 39, "SV Mulan". Our original sailing blog is linked on this site.
In 2017, Susan, Andrew, Sam & Max walked the Camino Frances from St-Jean-Pied-de-Porte to Santiago de Compostella (and rode bikes from Burgos to Leon as a blister recovery strategy), and in 2018 Jack also joined the crew as we waled the northern section of the Camino Portuguese from Porto to S de C.
In 2019 Andrew, accompanied by Max for the first few hundred kms, and Susan for the Tiscan section, walked the via francigena from Canterbury to Rome. That journey is blogged in this site.
This blog is planned as an alternative to the endless instagram posts used previously to communicate with those interested in our travels - although there is a linked instagram account as well!
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2saunter 